iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Wrapped up the work on the latest prototype I'm calling KinMerge. It's like 2048 with a light strategy layer, all dressed up with a Dune vibe. It's pretty fun to knock around in, if anyone would be up for playtesting and giving me some feedback I'd be chuffed.

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

I know prototypes are supposed to be quick and dirty greybox, but sometimes an idea needs a bit more of a visual element. This is the early stages for figuring out my slide and merge dynasty sim - 2048 meets Dune

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Been having lots of fun with Tears of Metal. It's got a bit of Mount and Blade or Dynasty Warriors thing going on, all wrapped up in roguelike runs

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Check it out at jakebenbow.itch.io/weight-expec... if you fancy

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

First game jam in years, done. Weight Expectations is a store simulator where you balance items with junk on a physical scale to fulfil customer orders. Made in two days for #KenneyJam

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I’ve spent the past months getting back into game dev. Four learning projects of classic games to refresh my skills and build upon what I’d learned during game jams years back. I’m finally out of learning land and today I started proper prototyping on one of my ideas 🙌

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Little test in Unity. It's surprisingly painless to get textures from the iPad over to the PC, I could definitely see it being a viable workflow for some assets. If there was too much back and forth I could see it being a pain though.

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

More hand painted stuff in Procreate - leaf texture

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Playing around with iPad workflows - sculpting in Nomad and texturing in Procreate

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

I’m incredibly excited to be starting a new position as a 3D Artist at @futurlab.co.uk this week! 🥳 It's another step in my journey and one I'm really looking forward to, with some fun projects on the horizon and a super friendly and welcoming team!

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Process breakdown for the rocks in my current personal project. Sculpted in ZBrush, processed in Houdini, rendered in Unreal.

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Been learning a bit of speedtree for a personal project I'm working up. Very out of my wheelhouse but happy with the results, might revisit them again later to make a few tweaks. Shoutout to @artofdape.bsky.social, would recommend his excellent vegetation course to anyone starting out with trees.

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

#01 - Overgrown Would it even be a monthly challenge if I didn't immediately fall behind schedule... Definitely need to improve my speed and try to not get bogged down in the weeds, but I do think this turned out really nice! #Mayterials2025 #Mayterials @theclubdiscord.bsky.social

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Wood plank sculpt practice in ZBrush

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Need to get back into this project and wrap it up

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Got one more project that I wanted to get finished before the end of 2024, but it's still been a good year. Excited to move on to even bigger and better things in 2025! #ArtStationRecap2024

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

I'm really happy with the way this turned out, and how it straddles the line between realism and stylisation. The materials read well but they've still got that sketchiness that I love more renders on Artstation too: www.artstation.com/artwork/1Nwk63

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Another material study from this year, a thick and chunky rockface. This was one of the jumping off points for that underground base environment that I've still yet to finish, which I will *definitely* return to finish before the year is out...

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Some more old work, this time based on a concept by Brian Sum from his AFTRMRKT art book.

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

A procedural approach to hand painted normal cracks in Substance Painter. I just paint in a single mask and then some slope blur and anchor point tricks give me both the light and shadow faces of the crack without having to paint them independently.

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Some more old work, a bamboo wall material study from back in the summer.

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 04/11/2024

Some more old work from a few years back, where I made a little run of daily hard surface studies. Very fun, and a very valuable exercise. These sorts of renders were what really got the ball rolling for me in terms of building a presence online, so I have fond memories of them.

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 28/10/2024

The first of a series of material studies I did back in the summer to get a bit more familiar with Substance Designer. The second render is my favourite, where I've just plugged a different tile generator into the graph - shows off the power of a good procedural setup.

A stylized, dusty orange flagstone material, created in Substance Designer and rendered in Marmoset Toolbag.

A stylized, dusty orange flagstone material, created in Substance Designer and rendered in Marmoset Toolbag. A couple of variations here showcasing the flexibility of the procedural graph.

A stylized, dusty orange flagstone material, created in Substance Designer and rendered in Marmoset Toolbag. Some texture maps included alongside to show the colour, roughness, normal and height maps in isolation.

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

A good ZBrush project is like an onion... it has layers 🤌

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 24/10/2024

People liked this video back when I posted it on Twitter, so I'll repost it on here for fresh eyes 👀 This is a way of creating masks out of painterly textures and using those to quickly lay down interesting shapes and strokes early on for some nice stylized colour and roughness variation!

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 21/10/2024

Started the sculpting on this, getting back into the ZBrush headspace. I also binned off the braided handle in favour of a more makeshift wrap, gives the handle a more interesting shape and it'll also expose the wood underneath for some material breakup

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 21/10/2024

4 of my favourite games 🎮 One of these things is not like the other

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 21/10/2024

Let's post some more old stuff - these props from last year were some of the first I made in my move into more NPR art. I remember getting so caught up in trying to find the "right answers" at the time, and now a year on there's lots I'd do differently. There's no substitute for time and practice.

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

Bluesky's open, quite one art to promote yourself!

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

Going to post here more often going forward, starting with some work I've done over the past year since I last posted on here. Club Backrooms, created in Unreal Engine. I experimented a lot with new workflows in this one, and it all came together pretty well. www.artstation.com/artwork/m8VKLv

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 17/10/2023

Been doing lots of little bits and bobs here and there for the cafe scene, it's coming together nicely

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 06/10/2023

Spent a few days making some paintings and some flyers to clutter up the walls

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 30/09/2023

Little sparky box for the cafe. Far too detailed considering it's shoved up in a corner, but hey that's what personal work is for right. Base colour appreciation image too, very fun to paint this

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Jake Benbow @jakebenbow.bsky.social · 20/09/2023

Something for the timeline, current WIP

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